Apparatus for printing on transparency slides

ABSTRACT

In an apparatus for printing characters on film mounts or slides, a computer-controlled needle printer is provided for printing on the slides as they are moved continuously past the printer. Elastic guide members guide the slides past the printer without interference. The needles of the needle printer are individually triggered in accordance with character data keyboard entered into a programmable memory. A read-only memory contains character data that are transferred to the programmable memory in response to operation of the keyboard. An intermediate memory is included at the keyboard to invert the character data (first in-last out) when the slides are turned around and reentered into the printer for printing characters on the reverse side of the slides. The intermediate memory is responsive to a limit switch that sense the presence of a slot formed in one side of each slide. The intermediate memory is activated only when a slot in the side of a moving slide is detected indicating that the slide is reversed and inversion of the character data is called for. The apparatus may be programmed to store a large number of identification data to be printed on the slides successively or in some arbitrary, predetermined order. A display console including a cathode ray tube is provided to display the data to be printed on the slides so that the data can be edited before actual printing.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No.646,561, filed on Jan. 5, 1976, now abandoned.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to an apparatus for printing or marking slideswherein the slides are fed individually to a printer and subsequentlythe slides are conveyed and then stacked.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

An inscription or marking on slides or film mounts is in many casesdesirable in order to positively identify each slide. As an example,each slide may be provided with a number. This is very important toidentify a sequence of slides that represents a series of photographicshots. For this purpose in the prior art, it has been known to firstprepare a stereotype rubber plate of the desired inscription and then toapply a print of this stereotype rubber plate on the film mount. Thisprior art was basically the process of stamp printing with individualplates required for a sequence. This is expensive as to cost, and afterprinting, each slide needs to dry before stacking since the printing inkcould otherwise smear. Any roughness in the surface of the mount has adisturbing influence causing the print to be irregular, even if thestereotype rubber plates are meticulously aligned before stamping. Thepresent invention is based on the objective of avoiding thesedisadvantages.

A primary object of the invention, therefore, is to create an apparatus,by means of which a series of mounts can be numbered or otherwiselettered or inscribed without a plate in a simple manner by a continuousprinting process.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In order to solve this task according to the invention, provision hasbeen made for the slides or film mounts to be moved individually past aneedle printer arrangement having at least one needle printer where theprinting process takes place during the movement of the mount past theneedle printer arrangement. A needle printer assembly is provided havinga multiplicity of steel pins, which is stationary in a transversedirection but can be selectively moved in a longitudinal direction in anarray representing indicia by way of a magnetic control. Between theheads of the steel pins and the slide that is to be printed on, acolored ribbon arrangement saturated with solvents based on esters andkeytones has been provided. Depending on which needles are triggered,different words, letters, and/or numbers are printed. The needles arepreferably arranged in two parallel columns, with the needles in thesecond column being interposed between corresponding needles in thefirst row. The needles in the first and second columns overlap toprovide a printed character having improved resolution. By "overlap" ismeant that a line perpendicular to the two columns of needles can passthrough a needle in each of the columns.

As a result of the fact that the slides that are to be marked are movedindividually past a needle printing arrangement, and the printingprocess takes place during the movement of the slide past the needleprinting arrangement, the desired printing can be accomplished in asimple, inexpensive manner and without any stereotype plate.

In an effective development according to the invention, provision isfurthermore made for the mount to be moved under the laterallystationary needle printers during the printing process at a continuousspeed. With this measure incorporated into the process, maximum speedplus a uniform printed character can be achieved. If the feed of theslides were varied, the width of the writing and the character of thewriting might be changed, such as by smearing from the slide and theprinter moving at different speeds at the instant of contact.

According to a further characteristic of the invention, provision can bemade that during one movement of the slide past the needle printingarrangement several lines are inscribed. Thus, it is possible, forexample in the case of commercial plastic amounts for 35 mm film, todipose indicia above the picture aperture in three lines disposed onebelow the other, and the same number of inscribed lines below thepicture frame, therefore, altogether giving six lines of printing. Sinceseveral lines can be inscribed during one passage of the slide past theneedle printing arrangement, for example three lines can be inscribedduring one passage, there is, compared to traditional single linewriting heads, an effective increase of three times in the speed.

The apparatus provided more particularly is characterized in that aguide track for the conveyance of the slides has been provided. Thedriving arrangements for the transportation of the slides engage theslides along the edge outside the areas that are to be inscribed. Theneedle printing arrangement is operable by a control arrangement andprojects into the area of the guiding track. The printer is attached ina locally fixed manner on the main frame of the apparatus. The needleprinting arrangement has at least one printing head with a multiplicityof steel pins movable until they contact or fit against the slide movingpast in the guide track. A color ribbon arrangement has been provided infront of the ends of the heads of the steel pins.

In a further feature of the invention, provision can be made for asupply magazine for sequential feeding of the slides. The magazine isprovided at the beginning of the guide track, and at the end of theguide rack, a receiving magazine for the stack-like reception of theslides is provided. This arrangement makes it possible to simply insertslides that are to be printed in a stack, and withdraw them again as astack into the supply magazine for any further imprinting of additionallines. Such a renewed insertion of the stack comes into question, forexample, whenever any lettering is to be accomplished on the mounts insix lines. In the needle printer arrangement shown herein, there areonly three needle printers that can thus imprint three lines at a time.

In a further development, an elastic or spring-loaded guidingarrangement has been provided making possible positive guiding of theslide in the area of the needle printer arrangement without lateralclearance. This maintains the slide steady in the area of the needleprinter arrangement. In other words, this elastic guiding arrangementserves the purpose of guiding the slide during the imprinting processwithout clearance in the guide track, in order to gain, on the one hand,precise location of the printing, and on the other hand, a variablelocating mechanism for different size slides.

The needle printing arrangement can have, according to the invention,several individual needle printers, such as three, as suggested above.The spatial location of the needle printers is such that the printingheads are disposed transversely to the direction of feeding and atintervals corresponding to the lines of inscription. In addition,several closely spaced needle printers may be disposed one behind theother stacked in relation to the longitudinal direction of conveyance.

In order to make possible a simple adaption of the apparatus to twoslides of variable thicknesses, provision has been made according to afurther characteristic of the invention, for the needle printerarrangement to be attached so as to be adjustable as to level vis-a-visthe guide track. The control arrangement, according to the invention,has a storage bank for fixed values for the fixed programming of thedesired thicknesses.

For the purpose of triggering the needle printing arrangement, aprogramable storage bank has been provided. The indicia can be fed tothe storage bank by way of a feeding-in or input arrangement including atypewriter keyboard. Because of an electronic or computer triggering ofthe needle printing arrangement, the latter can operate in such a waythat in the case of one passage, a number of lines corresponding to thenumber of printers can be printed simultaneously. It is also possible,for example, in the case of one passage to inscribe the upper edge of amount with several lines. Then the stack of slides, after being turnedover or twisted by 180° is again inserted into the supply magazine andthen the underside of the mount is imprinted with the same printingarrangement. The consequence of this normally would be that, because ofthe turning over, the last written characters would likewise be turnedover and backward as compared to the first written characters and withrespect to the film. In order to achieve the lettering running in thesame direction of reading "on top" and "on the bottom" of the slides, anintermediate storage can be provided between the computer inputmechanism and the keyboard, which would cause the characters to be fedinto said input mechanism backward and upside down. As a result, theturning over of the slides is compensated.

The operation of the intermediate storage or memory may be automaticallycontrolled using a switch or other sensor to detect a notch provided ononly one edge of each slide. Thus, the switch causes the intermediatestorage to be operative or non-operative depending upon detection of thepresence or absence of a notch on the edge of each moving slide.

According to a further characteristic of the invention, provision can bemade for a sequential numbering arrangement for the automatic andcontinuous numbering of the mounts. Such an arrangement can operate, forexample, automatically without the need for each corresponding number tobe fed manually into the inserting arrangement.

For an effective development of this characteristic of the invention, aprovision can be made for the numbering arrangement to be operated by anelectronic counting mechanism always moving by a shift register into thenext sequential position. The numbering to be printed on each slide maybe displayed in a CRT terminal so that editing changes may be enteredprior to actual printing.

It is possible to change the width of the type and the character of thetype by a change of the conveying speed of the slides past the fixedneedle printing arrangement. In order to be able to carry out thischange, the invention provides an adjusting arrangement for theadjustment of the conveying speed. This adjusting arrangement can, forexample, have a potentiometer in the electric driving arrangement.

Finally, the invention provides that the input mechanism has anindicating arrangement for indicating the position of the lines, thereading of the lines and the number of characters per line. By the term"position of lines", there is to be understood an indication as towhether the adjustment of the needle printing arrangement is adjustedfor "top" or "bottom" printing, that is to say, whether or not theintermediate storage, causing an inversion of the printed characters hasbeen switched in. By "indication of the line", it is to be understood anindication is given as to which line is being presently printed, i.e.,which of the altogether three lines. By the concept "number ofcharacters per line", I mean the number of those characters which can beprinted on one line. The indication arrangement which can be developed,for example, as a digital recording, will facilitate the operation ofthe arrangement according to the invention.

According to a further characteristic of the invention, provision can bemade that above the guiding arrangement and outside of the areas of theslides that are to be printed on, a guide strip or rail has beenprovided at least in the area of the needle printer arrangement. Thisguide strip serves the purpose of preventing a slipping or shifting ofthe slide in a vertical direction during the imprinting.

An effective development of this feature requires the guide strip to fitby its own weight from above against the slide that is to be imprinted.The strip is secured by means of vertical fitting pins against anyslippage. Naturally, the guide strip can be developed in such a way,that it will extend across almost the entire length of the upper filmstrip of the guide arrangement. Whenever the guide strip is disposed inthe middle above the conveying arrangement, the guide strip effectivelywill have a continuous recess extending in a longitudinal direction inorder not to impede the movement of the drivers. Naturally provision canalso be made for the guide strip to be displaced transversely inrelation to the longitudinal direction vis-a-vis the drivers, so thatthe recess is not necessary.

Further details and characteristics will develop from the succeedingdescription of an embodiment given by way of example and on the basis ofthe drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic, perspective presentation of a preferredembodiment by way of example, for the apparatus for marking slides bylettering;

FIG. 2 is a detailed presentation in the form of a top view of the guidetrack in the area of the needle printer arrangement whereby merely oneneedle printer has been shown schematically;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional presentation taken along line 3--3 in FIG.2, whereby some parts have been omitted in order to achieve a clearerpresentation;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional presentation corresponding to the line 4--4in FIG. 2, whereby parts have been omitted likewise for achieving aclearer presentation;

FIG. 5 is a simplified block diagram of a system for controlling theapparatus of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of an array of printing needles generallyof the type used in conjunction with the present invention;

FIG. 7a and 7b are bottom views of prior art needle printer arraystogether with exemplary printed patterns;

FIG. 8 is a bottom view of a preferred needle printer array, inaccordance with the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a top view of a slide having a cut-out side portion or notch;

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a limit switch adapted to detect thepresence of the notch on a moving slide;

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of a CRT display terminal for displayingstored data to be printed for possible editing of the data; and

FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing the data storage and interfacecircuitry for operating the apparatus in an automatic print and displaymode.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In the apparatus shown in FIG. 1, a housing 2 is disposed on a table 1,and a guide track in the housing is disposed running horizontally (notvisible in FIG. 1). At the beginning of the guide track, a supplymagazine 3 is arranged in which slides, which are to be imprinted, canbe disposed in the form of a stack. At the lower end of the supplymagazine, there is a separating arrangement 4 permitting the slidesstacked in the supply magazine 3 to be to be discharged individually andfed along the guide track. The slides are conveyed singly in thedirection of the arrow A on the horizontally arranged guide track, andguided past a needle printer arrangement 5. The slides are imprintedthere, and are conveyed further to the end of the guide track. Fromthere, they are guided toward a receiving magazine 6 in the direction ofthe arrow B.

Before the receiving magazine 6, designated by reference numeral 7, astacking arrangement has been provided, which has a slide mechanismcontrollable by way of an adjustable cam disk and which can be moved ina rhythm back and forth.

In the guide track 8, which is shown in the FIGS. 2 to 4, a drivingarrangement 9 for the individual transportation of slides 10, isprovided. The driving arrangement 9 has a continuous revolving conveyingbelt 11 with driver lugs 12. The arrangement of the driver lugs 12 issuch that they always reach behind the slides 10 in a conveyingdirection. It is of no consequence for the operation of the apparatuswhether or not openings 13 of the slides for the reception ofdiapositives (slides) contain such diapositives.

The conveying belt 11, which can also be developed as a chain, etc., ismade to revolve continuously, guided by way of rolls 14 (one of therolls 14 is shown in FIG. 3).

In the housing 2, a drive for the conveying belt 11 and also for theseparating arrangement 4 includes an electromagnetic coupling forseparating the conveying belt 11 from the driving arrangement. Thisserves the purpose of being able to operate the conveying belt 11 by wayof a hand-operated wheel 16 (FIG. 1) for adjusting and/or experimenting,and the hand-operated wheel acts on the rotational axis of the guideroll 14.

In the area of the needle printer arrangement 5, an elastic guidearrangement 17 is arranged laterally in the guide track 8 at the levelof the slides to be transported. The arrangement 17 is biasedtransversely to the direction of conveyance A with springs 18 forguiding slide 10 to be imprinted without interference in the area of theneedle printer arrangement 5 in a horizontal direction.

In order to achieve guidance without interference in a verticaldirection, a guide strip 19 (see FIG. 3) is located above the guidetrack 8. The guide strip 19 is vertically adjustable, and is mountedwith corresponding apertures, on horizontal set pins attached firmly tothe housing 2. Thus, the guide strip 19, because of its weight, fitsfrom above against the slides to be imprinted and stops the latter in avertical direction.

In the case of the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the guide strip 19 isdisposed above the conveying belt 11. In order to ensure that the driverlugs 12 should not be impeded in their movement, a recess 20, extendingin a longitudinal direction, has been provided in the guide strip 19.Alternatively, however, the guide strip 19 may be arranged below theconveying belt 11, so that the movement of the driver lugs 12 is notimpeded by the guide strip 19. Thus, in the embodiment of FIG. 2, recess20 is not necessary.

The needle printer arrangement 5, described in more detail below, isfixed to the housing 2. The level of the needle printer arrangement 5can be adjusted in the direction of the arrow C (FIG. 1) with anadjusting arrangement (not shown) to adapt printer 5 to slides ofvariable thickness.

The needle printer arrangement 5 has several needle printers, two ofwhich are shown in FIG. 1 and are designated respectively by 5A and 5B.Each needle printer has a plurality of steel pins, which are disposedwith their heads downward in a housing 21 formed conically downwardlytapering. Magnetic solenoid arrangements (not shown) are disposed aroundthe shafts of the steel pins (not shown). The pins are driven forwardwith a control arrangement, and therefore can be moved downwardly towardthe slide that is to be imprinted (see FIG. 4). The triggering takesplace by way of a control arrangement 28 (FIG. 5) described in moredetail below.

Referring to FIG. 6, a needle printer 5 of the type used in connectionwith the present invention is shown. Each printer 5 contains a pluralityof needles 40 extending between an upper, control end 42 of printer 5and a lower, contact end 44 of the printer. Although the needles 40 ofconventional needle printers are typically positioned in a straight lineparallel to the sides of the contact end 44b, as shown in FIGS. 6 and7b, the needles have also been positioned diagonally, as shown oncontact end 44a (FIG. 7a), in order to improve resolution. In accordancewith the present invention, resolution of the printed characters issubstantially improved using the array of needles as shown on contactend 44c (FIG. 8). The array on 44c is composed of first and second,parallel columns of needles, as shown. The second column of needles,identified by B, is positioned slightly to the right of the first columnof needles, identified by A. The needles B are interposed between theneedles A, and are oriented in and overlapping therewith, whereby a lineperpendicular to the columns A and B will always pass through at leastone needle. The needles in column B are preferably equispaced betweencorresponding needles in column A.

The needles in columns A and B of the contact end 44c in FIG. 8 arecontrolled in a time-shifted manner, that is, first the needles incolumn A are activated. As the slide to be lettered is advanced, theneedles in column B are activated when those needles are located exactlyover the points to be printed in a manner similar to that in U.S. Pat.No. 3,900,094 to Larsen et al. The result is a character having improvedresolution, as shown by the letter "X" in FIG. 8. This is to be comparedwith the letters "X" in FIGS. 7a and 7b provided by the prior art needlearrays.

Between the heads of the steel pins and the slide 10, a color ribbonarrangement 22 (FIG. 4) includes a color ribbon 24a guided by way ofguide rolls 23. The number of needles contained in the individual needleprinters is basically arbitrary, but in practice, approximately from 7to 9 needles are provided. Depending on which needles are triggered byway of the magnetic control arrangement, variable configurations ofparticular characters (letters) can be achieved, as well as variableletters. Since the individual characterizations are not fixed, as in atypewriter, but are composed of individual dots, the possibility ofinscribing is not limited to Latin letters, but other types of writing,e.g., Arabic letters etc. can also be written.

The color ribbon 24a of a type shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,970,183 toRobinson et al is preferably saturated with a plastic solubolizingsolvent of a type based upon esters and keytones. As a result, whenprinting is to take place on slide frames formed of plastic, a firmconnection is produced between the colors and the slide surface. Thisoccurs since the plastic at the surface of the frame, at the moment ofprinting, is slightly dissolved and the color particles can penetrateinto this dissolved layer. The result is lettering that dries rapidlyand cannot be wiped off.

Referring to FIG. 5, control arrangement 28 has a read-only memory 29disposed in the housing 2, in which the desired characters (letters) areprogrammed. For the actual triggering a programmable memory 30 is alsoprovided in the housing 2, into which the characters can be fed from theread only memory 29 by way of the input control 24 (see also FIG. 1).The input control 24 is connected to memories 29 and 30 in the housing2, with an electric wire 25 and a conventional keyboard 26 for inputtingtypewriter characters.

The system of FIG. 1 may be operated in the manner described above usingkeyboard 26 to input characters to be printed, or may be programmed toprint predetermined characters on successive slides. This may includesuccessively numbered slides, or identical characters on predeterminednumbers of slides. In either case, the characters to be printed arestored in a memory 60 (FIG. 12) that may be programmed by a keyboard 62which may be a separate keyboard or may be the same keyboard as keyboard26 in FIG. 5. The output of memory 60 is supplied to the printerarrangement, similarly to memory 30 in FIG. 5. The output of memory 60may also be supplied to a CRT display terminal 64 for individual displayof any or simultaneous display of all characters to be printed onsuccessive slides. It can be appreciated that display 64 enables editingof character data prior to actual printing.

Memory 60 may be provided by conventional solid state or core memoryunits, or may be provided by magnetic tape for large volume storage.

A counter 66 may also be provided to supply successive characters,either alphabetical or numerical, to the printer arrangement and todisplay terminal 64. Counter 66 would require no programming and wouldbe advantageous where successive numbering of slides without "looping"called for.

In operation, a slide 10 brought up on the guide track 8 is imprintedduring the continuous passage underneath the needle printer arrangement.In the case of the arrangement shown in FIG. 2, one needle printer hasbeen shown, so that in the case of one passage, naturally only one linecan be printed.

As is clear from FIG. 1, during one passage it is also possible forseveral needle printers, such as needle printers 5A and 5B, to becomeoperative, so that during one passage two lines can be letteredsimultaneously.

Obviously it is also possible to provide still further needle printerarrangements. In such an arrangement, needle printers 5A and 5B arestacked transversely to the direction of conveyance A, to save space.

Whenever, as in the case of the embodiment shown, a needle printerarrangement 5 has been provided merely on one side of the guide track,then during one passage, one portion of the slide 10, designated by 0,can be imprinted with one or several lines. If it is desired that anopposite portion U also be imprinted, this can be accomplished in asimple manner since the stack of slides imprinted on the portion O istaken out of the receiving magazine 6 and is then again inserted intothe supply magazine disposed by 180° compared to the first passage.Accordingly, portion U reaches the area of the needle printer 5 duringthe passage.

In order to achieve that the inscription, as compared to the inscriptionalready existing on the portion 0, would not stand upside down, anintermediate memory 34 is connected between the input control 24 and theprogrammable memory 30 in the housing 2, the intermediate memory 34 is afirst in - last out memory and passes on the characters fed into saidmemory backwards to the programmable memory. As a result, theinscriptions on the portion O and of the portion U are applied in thesame reading direction. The intermediate memory 34 itself can likewisebe developed as a programmable memory.

Referring to FIGS. 9 and 10, the operation of intermediate memory 34 maybe controlled by a microswitch 52 (FIG. 10) having an operator 51 biasedinto sliding engagement with an edge of slide frame S. One edge of slideframe S has formed therein a cut-out portion 50 which is useful forstacking the slides with proper orientation. As a slide frame S on theconveyor passes switch 52, the switch operator 51 detects theorientation of the slide, that is, whether the slide has the orientationshown in FIG. 10 or has an opposite orientation (rotated 180° ). Switch52 activates the intermediate memory 34 only when slide frame S is in apredetermined orientation, e.g., as shown in FIG. 10, to control theprinting of characters on the slide frame.

A numbering arrangement for the automatic continuous numbering of theslides has been provided, as shown in simplified form in FIG. 5. Thisarrangement has an electronic counter 35 of a type shown in U.S. Pat.No. 3,650,205 to Wybrow et al. having an output connected to a shiftregister 36 to store the accumulated counter output for display.

A change of the constant speed of the conveying belt 11 causes a changeof the width of the printing and of the printing character. This can beachieved, e.g., with a potentiometer 37 for controlling a conventionaldrive motor control 38 (FIG. 5).

Beside the keyboard 26, the input control 24 has a digital recordingarrangement 27 which always has separate picture windows (viewingwindows) 27A, 27B and 27C. The viewing window 27 serves for therecording of the position of the line, therefore for the indication asto whether or not the feeding in takes place for the topside 0 or theunderside U (FIG. 2). The viewing window 27B serves for the recording oflines, i.e., whether or not, e.g., the needle printer 5A is triggeredfor the first line or the needle printer 5B for the second line. Theviewing window 27C displays how many symbols (characters) per line havealready been fed in. The switches etc. required for the operation of theapparatus are disposed in a control console 28.

Still other objects and advantages of the present invention will becomereadily apparent to those skilled in this art from the followingdetailed description, wherein I have shown and described only thepreferred embodiment of the invention, simply by way of illustration ofthe best mode contemplated by me of carrying out my invention. As willbe realized, the invention is capable of other and differentembodiments, and its several details are capable of modifications invarious obvious respects, all without departing from the invention.Accordingly, the drawings and descriptions are to be regarded asillustrative in nature, and not as restrictive.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus for printing characters on slides,comprising a guide track for transporting the slides; constant speeddriver means engaging said slides outside of the areas thereof that areto be inscribed for transporting said slides; needle printer meansprojecting into the area of said guide track for contact printing on theslides, including a plurality of pins movable up to and fitting againstthe slide guided past in said guide track, said pins being constrainedagainst lateral movement; control means for controlling said needleprinter means; said control means including a read only memory forstoring desired characters; and a programmable memory for storingcharacters fed thereto from the read only memory via a keyboard, saidprogrammable memory triggering said needle printer means; and anintermediate memory connected between said control means and saidprogrammable memory, said intermediate memory including a first-in,last-out memory device, said intermediate memory device storingcharacters from said read only memory fed to said intermediate memory bysaid control means, said intermediate memory further feeding said storedcharacters to said programmable memory backward and inverted as a resultof the first-in, last-out storage of said characters.
 2. The apparatusof claim 1, including means for detecting the orientation of a slide,and means responsive to said detection means for controlling saidintermediate memory.
 3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein said sensingmeans includes a limit switch for detecting a characteristic of a movingslide on said guide track.
 4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein each ofsaid slides includes a cut-out portion on one edge of the slide, andwherein said switch means includes an operator positioned adjacent saidguide track and operative to detect the presence or absence of saidcut-out portion of a moving slide.